Messier 101 (The Pinwheel Galaxy) - Intermediate Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major
Messier 101 is a Intermediate Spiral Galaxy in the Ursa Major constellation. Messier 101 is situated north of the celestial equator and, as such, it is more easily visible from the northern hemisphere.
The image below is a photograph of Messier 101 from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2 - see the credits section) taken in the red channel. The area of sky represented in the image is 0.79966666666667x0.79966666666667 degrees (47.98x47.98 arcmins).
Key facts about Messier 101
Messier 101 is above the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom .
Altitude: 38.1°
Azimuth: 312.3°
Direction: North-West
See also Messier 101 rise and set times.
Given its visual magnitude of 7.86, Messier 101 is visible with the help of a binocular with a 40-50mm aperture or a small telescope.
Photometric information of Messier 101
The following table lists the magnitude of Messier 101 in different bands of the electomagnetic spectrum (when available), from the B band (445nm wavelength, corresponding to the Blue color), to the V band ( 551nm wavelength, corresponding to Green/Yellow color), to the J, H, K bands (corresponding to 1220nm, 1630nm, 2190nm wavelengths respectively, which are colors not visible to the human eye).
For more information about photometry in astronomy, check the photometric system article on Wikipedia.
The surface brightess reported below is an indication of the brightness per unit of angular area of Messier 101.
Apparent size of Messier 101
The following table reports Messier 101 apparent angular size. The green area displayed on top of the DSS2 image of Messier 101 is a visual representation of it.Messier 101 (The Pinwheel Galaxy) - Intermediate Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major morphological classification
Messier 101 (The Pinwheel Galaxy) - Intermediate Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major is classified as Intermediate Spiral (SABc) according to the Hubble and de Vaucouleurs galaxy morphological classification. The diagram below shows a visual representation of the position of Messier 101 (The Pinwheel Galaxy) - Intermediate Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major in the Hubble de Vaucouleurs sequence.
Credits for the background image: Antonio Ciccolella / M. De Leo / CC BY
Celestial coordinates and finder chart of Messier 101
Celestial coordinates for the J2000 equinox of Messier 101 are provided in the following table:
The simplified sky charts below show the position of Messier 101 in the sky. The first chart has a field of view of 60° while the second one has a field of view of 10°.
Rise and set times of Messier 101 from your location
Location: Greenwich, United Kingdom
Latitude: 51° 28’ 47” N
Longitude: 0° 00’ 00” E
Timezone: Europe/London
Messier 101 (The Pinwheel Galaxy) - Intermediate Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major is circumpolar and transits at 23:37 UTC (altitude: 87.1°)